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“They are really good kids, Cass. You’re doing a great job.”
I blushed. “Thanks.”
An hour and a half later, both kids were with us in Ray’s truck. Max had fallen right to sleep as soon as he sat in his seat. He was most likely up into the wee hours of the morning horsing around with his buddies. Kyra, on the other hand, was a ball of energy. I wondered if she’d had something with a ton of caffeine before we picked her up. She was talking super quickly and was extremely animated. Her hands were flying every which way, and even though she was sitting behind me in the truck, she almost hit me a few times. She paused for a second, then shouted, “Oh!”
Ray and I jumped in our seats at the unexpected outburst. It didn’t faze her in the least.
“Mom! Guess what?”
“Chicken butt,” Ray said and chuckled at his own joke.
“Ew, what?” Kyra said.
I laughed. “Ignore him,” I said, shaking my head. “What, Kyra?”
“Our dance crew was selected to perform our hip-hop routine at the Beach City Fourth of July Celebration.”
“Really?” Ray asked, surprised. “That’s an honor. They don’t allow just anyone to perform. They are very selective and picky. You know there are a lot of celebrities who live in Beach City, and they go to the events?”
I turned to look at Kyra. Her eyes were wide, and she was jumping in her seat. “Really?”
I groaned. I wished Ray hadn’t mentioned the celebrities. Kyra tended to have stage fright at the most random times, but add tons of people plus celebrities to the mix, and she might back out and let her friends down. Instead of worrying, though, I decided to stay positive. “Do we need to pick up anything? A costume or something?”
She said excitedly from the backseat, “We are all going to wear baggy dark-blue shorts and white tennis shoes, and Jackie’s mom already had red tops. Oh, and I need to get a white baseball cap. We can decorate the cap if we want.”
“Hey, you can ask my son Lucas to help you decorate your cap. He can probably spray paint your name in graffiti style,” Ray offered.
“Really?” Kyra asked.
I raised my eyebrows.
“I told you, he’s artsy fartsy.”
“He’s not going to be on his honeymoon?” I asked. “Fourth of July is next weekend.”
Ray raised his eyebrows. “Is it? Already?”
“Yep.”
“Crap,” he said.
“What’s wrong?”
“As Fire Captain, I’m in charge of the fireworks. Palm Hills and Beach City combine their celebrations. I have to check-in with a few people and make sure we have what we need to put on a spectacular show.”
“I’m sure if Max was awake he would have a gazillion questions for you about that,” I said.
“Yep,” Kyra agreed from the backseat.
“Oh,” I said as I realized, “so you’ll be too busy to hang out with me that day, huh?”
“I’ll be there the whole day. I can still hang out with you. I’ll just be all over the place.”
I frowned.
On Friday, the Fourth of July, we arrived at the beach a little after eleven. Kyra was scheduled to perform at noon. The beach was packed, and parking was nearly impossible. We found a spot on a side street and walked for about twenty minutes. Both of the kids ditched me as soon as our feet touched the sand. I guess I should have been happy. They had made friends in the short time since we’d moved here. Me, on the other hand… not so much.
Cathy saw me from a distance. She was sitting in a fold-up chair near a jewelry vendor tent. She waved for me to come over. I groaned but complied because, well, what else was I going to do?
